


Between Battles | A Chess Game

by BlackBirdAolen



Series: Between Battles | A Final Fantasy / Fire Emblem Crossover Series [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Chess Game, Crossover, Gen, Resting, Tacticians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-12
Updated: 2014-03-12
Packaged: 2018-01-15 11:39:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1303546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBirdAolen/pseuds/BlackBirdAolen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After receiving a wound in battle, Robin is waiting for Lightning to show up for their daily game of chess. But there still is a topic which Lightning wants to explore - she doesn't trust Chrom's valued tactician.</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="http://ask.fm/BlackBirdAolen">Got a fanfic idea for me?</a><br/><a href="http://cheroshseiphar.deviantart.com/">My deviantART - full of original fiction.</a><br/><a href="http://blackbirdaolen.tumblr.com/">Snippets and ramblings on my tumblr.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Battles | A Chess Game

Lightning watched how Chrom left the tent of his tactician, Robin. It had been a long day, and the battle that had ensued towards the afternoon had cost them a great deal of energy. In the end, the tactician had been wounded, in a moment when Chrom had not watched out, and Robin had leaped into the path of an arrow meant to hit Chrom. While she admired the tactician's worries, she couldn't help feeling uneasy about him.

There were rumors about what Robin's strange clothes meant, and how Robin, Tharja and Henry sometimes conjured up strange experiments together. The white-haired tactician had an air of something old and threatening about him, but none of the others seemed to sense it. If they did, then they hardly cared about it. Strange indeed. How could they trust this tactician, when there was so much mystery about his exact origins and intentions?

"Oh, hello Lightning." Chrom had stopped in his path, offering a wary smile when Lightning approached him. "Are you here to see Robin, too? He already is waiting for you. He said that he wouldn't want to miss out on your daily game of chess."

Lightning nodded faintly, watching how Chrom vanished between some tents, before she entered Robin's. The tactician was sitting in his bed, smiling with a slightly strained quality about it. The two scars crossing on his forehead, a strange mark left by an unknown weapon, were gleaming with sweat, just like the rest of his face. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, despite Lissa having healed him almost completely.

"Good evening, Lightning."

She nodded at him, not able to suppress the faintest of smiles. Robin was unusually soft-spoken and kind for a veteran on the battlefield, and he always had an open ear to the worries of the people around him. Though, she had heard about them talking that he was one of the "Grimleal", whatever that meant exactly. She wasn't all that familiar with the threat this band of adventurers were facing, so she still tried to get the bigger picture about it.

"You look like a ghost," she greeted him, sitting down on a rather rocky stool and trying to get a little more comfortable. "Are you sure that you can focus on a game of chess tonight?"

"I can, Lightning, rest assured of that. I could focus on it in the middle of a battle, though it shouldn't be something I pick up as a habit."

She cocked her head to the side, looking him over. Robin had, as in one of the rare instances, taken off the long, purple robe he usually was wearing. His torso was wrapped in bandages, a patch of soft cotton bunching the bandages on one side. The arrow had hit a little too close to the heart for comfort, which was why he had been urged to lay down immediately while they still had slain the last few enemies.

"Will you be able to move properly?" Lightning nodded towards his bandages. "You aren't resistant to pain, or to the wound worsening when you move about too much."

"Of that, I'm aware, other than some certain thick-headed 'hero' on your side," Robin joked with an honest smile. "Don't get me wrong, I like Snow, but he sometimes is really a huge pile of trouble to handle."

"He definitely is. His only positive aspect is that he is too stubborn to die." Lightning pulled the stool closer, since it was obvious that Robin wouldn't be able to stretch as much as usually. "I'll try to get him to stop being so reckless, but I can't promise anything."

Robin nodded softly, briefly resting his head back and closing his eyes. Lightning still had a hard time guessing his age, and Robin never talked about it. He looked like he was about in his thirties, but sometimes, he appeared to be much older than that. Lightning had learned that there were some beings who were deceptively young on the outside, but could be ancient on the inside, in a way. In his case, it was one of those instances she had at least the feeling it could be the case.

"Well, if you're too tired to play chess, I won't be mad at you, really. We are both needed for our individual groups, as tacticians making sure that everything runs smoothly in battle and in between them."

Robin nodded, though signed her to stay in his tent. "I'm not too tired, no worries, Light." He gave a warm, yet slightly strained smile. "After all, you seem to have something on your mind that you wanted to talk about."

So he had noticed that she was bothered about something. She didn't say anything right away, and instead looked down on the chess board. They had played almost every day, and up to this point, they were quite up to par with their skill. Lightning moved the first piece, and for a while, it was silent between them.

"I presume that you are worried about a certain aspect of my past. Or the lack of a past I seem to have." Robin remained calm and collected, seeming to have retold the story several times already. "I know that you can't entirely trust me because of that, but it certainly is not my intention to give you a feeling as though you'd be threatened by my presence."

"I wouldn't call it a threat. It just is this insecurity that's bugging me." Lightning met his gaze, holding it effortlessly. "I heard the others calling you a 'Grimleal'. What does that mean?"

Robin leaned back briefly, his face thoughtful. "Well, I will focus on the important facts. There are two beings in our world which are considered godlike. There are Naga, and Grima, the two opposing forces. Neither is omnipotent, but they still are quite potent." Robin closed his eyes briefly, apparently trying to ignore the pain throbbing in his ribcage. "Grima is the destructive force of the world, yet some seek to revive him. His followers are called Grimleal. But some have turned away from those teachings and joined Chrom in his quest. Such 'traitors' to Grima's doctrines include Henry, Tharja, and myself. And I might just be the biggest of those traitors."

"Why that?" Lightning shook her head lightly. "You are all equal, in my eyes."

"Well, then why do you think that I'm treated differently from Henry and Tharja? I seem to hold a special place, after all. I even hold it quite obviously, close to Chrom. Strange that it would be me, right?"

"What are you trying to tell me, Robin?"

Robin lifted his right hand, the back of his hand towards Lightning. A strange mark appeared from beneath what seemed to be makeup, dusted over the purple mark to mask it. "This is the reason why I'm the worst of them all. I am a part of the person who will become Grima's new host."

Lightning jumped to her feet, drawing her sword and pointing it at Robin. The blade-tip barely touched Robin's throat, and anger rose in Lightning. She forced it back down, wanting to remain calm. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you here and now."

"For a first, you would rid our community of one tactician. While I can be replaced, I have a certain value to the people around me. Second, I have no intention of becoming part of this person again. I am an individual with strong bonds by now. Naga pointed out that, with how strong those bonds to others have become, I might remain when the rest of Grima perishes." Robin moved one chess piece, getting the checkmate on Lightning. "And third? I want to see the world thriving and flourishing again. I want to see the people happy, and not in agony because the world has been destroyed. Chrom trusts me enough to let me close to him, so do Lissa, Frederick, and even Lucina, who by now knows that in a different future, I was to blame for Chrom's death."

Lightning slowly lowered her blade, then sat back down, as though nothing had happened. "You could be just putting on a good show."

"I doubt that someone putting on a show would go as far as throwing himself in the way to block an arrow, which wouldn't even have been lethal," Robin replied with a tired smile. "But then, I don't know how you experienced traitors to be like. I won't judge you for mistrusting me. In fact, I think it's a healthy way of looking at me at times. I still pose a threat, but I am fighting myself every day. I am still a little weak towards my origin. I could be drawn back into my original body at any time. But I won't stop fighting until I am, indeed, free to be myself, free to be an individual with his own set of ideals."

Lightning nodded quietly, sheathing her sword and getting up once more, about to leave the tent. "Robin, I will only say this once. Stay the way you are. Don't stop fighting. Fate is not set into stone—I have to know."

"I know that, too." Robin smiled, already dozing off. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow it is."

 


End file.
